The food industry could be actively working against public health by influencing the results of studies in their favor.
Image credits Stefan Divily.
New research reports that around 13.4% of the nutrition studies it analyzed disclosed ties to the food industry. Studies in which the industry was involved were more likely to produce results that were favorable to its interest, the team adds, raising questions in regards to the merits of these findings.
Harmburger
“This study found that the food industry is commonly involved in published research from leading nutrition journals. Where the food industry is involved, research findings are nearly six times more likely to be favourable to their interests than when there is no food industry involvement,” the authors note.
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More than half of these studies yielded outcomes favorable to company products, compared with less than 10 percent lacking such support
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PLOS ONE reports that more than 13 percent of peer-reviewed studies in 10 of the top nutrition science journals had connections to the food industry and of those, more than half reported findings favorable to business interests.
1 in 7 studies in nutrition journals have food industry ties
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Nutrition studies with industry ties were more than five times more likely to report results that favored food industry interests (55.6% vs. 9.7%), according to a recent study. Photo by Africa Studio/Shutterstock
It s common for studies in leading nutrition journals to have ties with the food industry, and such studies are more likely to have findings that support industry interests, researchers report.
They reviewed all peer-reviewed studies published in 2018 in the 10 most-cited nutrition and diet-related academic journals.
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The researchers found that 13.4% of the more than 1,400 studies reported that they had connections with the food industry, such as funding from food makers or authors linked with food companies.
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